I am Da Song

Chapter 291 Longyou's Return

Although both are feudal societies, the social wealth of the Song Dynasty is not at the same level as that of the Qin and Han Dynasties.

The gap of thousands of years is not only reflected in steel and weapons, but also in social productivity and agricultural output.

Unlike the Qin and Han Dynasties who were struggling on the food and clothing line, the agriculture of the Song Dynasty was already highly developed, and it could provide for the society, and then pursue more wealth, accumulate a lot of wealth and invest in industrial production.Improve production technology and increase industrial production capacity.

Therefore, Zhao Huan attached great importance to the accumulation of wealth.The Great Song Xingshi mobilized the crowd to fight a battle. Is it a gain or a loss?

Eating the lychees that Xiao Yinger peeled for him, Zhao Huan pretended to be careless and asked: "Liu Qing, tell me about the situation in Longyou. My Song Dynasty should be thriving in Longyou, right?"

Liu Kai quickly put down the Kunlun melon in his hand, and said: "The situation in Longyou, the official family, is very good now. The Caotou Tatar was destroyed by the king's teacher, and the Yellow-headed Uighur Khan died in the ranch dispute. His son led more than [-] people to join him. In my court, his younger brother fled to Gaochang."

Zhao Huan frowned, and asked: "The younger brother of the Uighur Khan fled to Gaochang? No wonder Gaochang recently took the initiative to offer tribute to Tokyo. This time Uighur Gaochang is not destroyed, it is really a constraint for our dynasty in the Western Regions."

The name of the Gaochang country is Uyghur Gaochang, so we can understand their relationship with the yellow-headed Uyghur.

A group of Uyghurs fled to Gaochang, and they may make a comeback at any time. This Gaochang can collude with the yellow-headed Uyghurs to gain influence on the plateau.

Liu Kai said: "Officials, I think it's not a bad thing to leave a yellow-headed Uighur. I only manage the vast grasslands west of the West Sea. For this land, I have no people to settle, and no bureaucrats to garrison. It's just They were divided and sealed to various Tubo tribes."

"The Uyghurs and the Tubo people competed for pastures, and there was constant turmoil, which was conducive to the implementation of our rule. To avoid one party dominating."

Prime Minister Zhang Shuye also nodded slowly, agreeing: "War is not a bad thing sometimes. Forcing for peace will only create greater hidden dangers."

In this world, since the existence of human beings, there have been only a handful of days of peace, and war and chaos are the norm.

The Song Dynasty was able to maintain long-term peace with hundreds of millions of people and tens of thousands of miles of territory, because the Song Dynasty was a kingdom of heaven.

For the surrounding Hulu tribes, the continuous war is a situation they have to face all year round.

Zhao Huan promised that he would not micromanage the military management of the Longyou Governor's Mansion, but he still firmly held the finances of the Longyou Governor's Mansion.Then he asked, "How is the income and expenditure of the wealth in the development of Longyou this time?"

Liu Kai said: "This time, more than 840 troops and more than 480 civilians were mobilized, and a total of [-] million shi of grain and hay was used. The military expenditure was more than [-] million."

"If all of them are converted into silver, it will cost about 500 million guan to open up Longyou."

Zhao Huan remained calm and listened to Liu Kai's continuation.

Fifteen million guan, this figure is close to one-tenth of military expenditure even in the current fiscal budget of the Song Dynasty.

Before Jingkang, this number could directly clear the fiscal surplus of the imperial court for a year, and within a few years, the imperial court's Taicang would be emptied.

The Central Plains dynasty's reluctance to mobilize troops also had a large reason for this.Fighting a prairie tribe cost a lot of money at every turn, but the harvest was very little.

The income was beyond the means, and after a few battles, the court's finances went bankrupt.When the truly threatening tribes rise up, the Central Plains Dynasty will have insufficient military expenditures and low combat power, so they will not be able to calm down the situation.

Therefore, unless it is absolutely necessary, try not to send troops if you can.

Liu Kai was also worried that the officials would consider this matter, because the harvest was not as good as the military expenditure, and they gave up frontier advancement and turned to passive defense.

He quickly said: "Although the expenditure is 500 million, the re-opening of Hehuang this time will also bring huge gains."

"The Caotou Tatars and the Yellow-headed Uighurs plundered the southern line of the Silk Road, and they all accumulated a lot of wealth. Master Wang swept the grassland several times, and collected a total of more than 24 taels of gold and more than [-] taels of silver."

Gold and silver are the hard currency of the country, but these seizures are completely worthless compared to military expenditures.Not to mention that they cannot be circulated directly, even if they are sold to the people, they will be worth close to a million guan.

Relying on the capture of the little wealth of the grassland tribes, it is completely useless to make up for the financial losses.

Liu Kai continued: "In addition to real gold and silver, more important are war horses, cattle and sheep. Since the development of Longyou, our Song Dynasty has directly controlled the production areas of war horses. According to the national code, when the country was in its prime, Shaanxi bought horses at an age of [-]. The horse is the amount, and the price of a Western horse is no less than [-]."

"That is to say, just by buying horses, the country can save nearly one million yuan in military finances every year. This is especially true for civilians."

Privy Councilor Zhang Shuye said, "In this regard, the Privy Council has made calculations. It is impossible for the country to buy horses at the minimum amount. In order to strengthen its military equipment, it must allocate at least eight million horses and mules to the army every year."

"With Longyou in hand, at least half of the more than eight million guns can be saved. The key is that the horses will no longer be restrained by others. The number of cavalry in the army will increase dramatically, and the logistical pressure will also be greatly reduced."

The Song army's shortage of mules and horses was even dozens of times greater than that of war horses.

There are no horses, and the worst case is that cavalry will become infantry.In the Song Dynasty, the heavy infantry fought the world, the three armies swallowed up the strong, and the country's military strength was strong. If you just raise a partial division, you can drive thousands of miles away.

But without mules and horses, it would be too bitter.

The Song Army is now guided by the art of war summarized by Shen Kuo, the most authoritative academic expert in the Song Dynasty, so the Song Army sent troops to fight, it is really bitter and sad.

Each soldier had to carry five days' food on foot.

In addition, the food of the army is mainly delivered by civilian husbands.

Each peasant has to carry six buckets of grain.

One soldier plus one civilian husband has a combat distance of eighty miles.Two peasants feed a soldier, and then double it.There is also a civilian husband who helps the soldiers carry the armor.

When marching, soldiers do not wear armor, but only carry weapons.Just before the battle, I put on the armor to fight.

Therefore, Shen Kuo concluded in "Mengxi Bi Tan" that an army of 10 people, coupled with 30 civilian husbands, and these 40 people, have a limit combat distance of 640 miles.And it's the kind of back and forth, if you can't win, the whole army will collapse immediately.

However, with a large number of mules and horses, the number of civilians needed to be used in a battle of less than 10 people will be greatly reduced.Moreover, the army's logistics capabilities have been greatly improved, and the combat distance has at least doubled.

The cost savings are incalculable.

This is also one of the greatest significances of Song Jun's victory over Longyou.

In addition to controlling the racecourse, another great significance is to master this crucial vast land, and the Silk Road can be reopened.

Liu Qi introduced: "The country re-established Longyou, and collected more than one million households in Longshang, and added more than 540 million acres of land. In the winter of last year, Longyou received a national tax of [-] million yuan."

Hearing this data, Zhao Huan's eyes finally lit up.There are 300 million mu of fertile land, which is equivalent to ten mu of land owned by four or five people in each household, or more than two mu per capita.This number is certainly extremely low, and there is still a lot of room for growth.

But now the regular tax is 540 million guan, which can make up for the country's military expenditure in three years.

(End of this chapter)